Tuesday, July 8, 2014

*************NOTE: This is an older post that was once combined with my Guide to Beginning Modeling, but I have decided to separate them for the sake of my Q&A Video. If you want to read the first half of the original post, you can find it here:How to Be A Model************My Story: How I Became a GLW Muse

Many moons ago, a happy & bouncy man by the name of Chris Van Atta came into a smoothie shop that I worked at. He turned out to be one of the best local photographers in eastern North Carolina. We got to chattin' and he found out that I had an interest in photography. So, our friendship blossomed, and we agreed that he would teach me photography if I would jump in front of his camera even though I didn't have a clue what I was doing. Here is my first photoshoot ever:

I thought I would hate it. I wanted to be a photographer, not a model. I'm shy and weird and awkward as hell. But... I. freaking. loved. it. We ended up shooting a few more times before he (or I? I can't remember) moved away and we couldn't play very often anymore.

More CVA photos from the following months:

We even ended up going to the Bahamas together (to shoot a wedding), and you better believe that we took advantage of that killer scenery and did a little shoot of our own while we were there!!

Fast forward.

A few years ago, I was clicking around Model Mayhem and stumbled upon DayJaVUE Photography. Her work was unbelievable! I was so impressed. We set up a shoot. I got to the shoot a bit early and met Linden Valentine for the first time, who was just wrapping up a shoot with DayJaVUE. At the time, I had no idea who Linden was & I went about my shoot and thought nothing of it. It's not really relevant to my story, just a funny coincidence that we crossed paths so early on & now we have been muses together for years. :3

We were both so stoked about the results of the shoot that we set up another shoot. On the day of the second shoot, DayJaVUE had just gotten a shipment of wigs in from Gothic Lolita Wigs. You may recognize her name if you are a GLW fan because she has been one of their best photographers for a very long time. I had never heard of GLW, but begged her to shoot me in this amazing wig!

After this shoot, I just HAD to buy one of their wigs. Once it arrived, I shot it with Sweet Trade Photography (who I also met on Model Mayhem & who became one of my besties 4ever).

These photos caught the eye of GLW designer Charles Reger right around the time they were looking to get an alternative model to represent the company. Somewhere between having great timing, a great photographer, and a great wig, one thing led to another, and I've been a muse for GLW ever since. :') *happy tears for memory lane*

Thursday, July 3, 2014

Hi everyone!! Guess what!!? Review time! A lot of people come to me upset because they want to live the kawaii life, but they can't wear circle lenses for medical reasons, prescription issues, or because their parents simply won't let them. Cry no more, circle-lensless cutie pies! I have a solution for you!!! Prescription glasses from GlassesShop.com! :3

GlassesShop.com is a prescription glasses website with a tonnnnn of discounted cute glasses options! The site is super easy to navigate and has some amazing sorting options to help you find exactly what you're looking for in their huge eyeglasses and sunglasses selection. You can sort by things like shape, price, and my personal favorite- color!!!

I mean... just LOOK at all these options!! When picking my glasses, I had two thoughts in mind. First, I wanted to make sure that I picked some glasses that I would actually wear in day-to-day life. Second, I wanted to get something different than the glasses I already have.

That picture shows my glasses prior to discovering GlassesShop.com. They are cute, but since they are black rimmed glasses, they don't always go with my pastel kawaii outfits. I mean.. when you have a pastel outfit from head to toe, throwing black glasses into the mix can kind of ruin it. I don't always feel like wearing contacts, so I had this dilemma.

Then GlassesShop.com showed up and offered me the option to sort by COLOR. My first thought was....

must...

find....

kawaii...

glasses!!!!

First, I sorted by pink. Then by purple. Then by blue. Then by red. The first pair I landed on was Katherine- Purple & Blue Stripe, and the second pair was Sebastian- Red. I'll talk more about why I made those selections in a minute. But first, let's talk shipping!

I was sooooo extra excited about this review because it is a product that impacts my every day life. I have literally worn these glasses every day for the last month. So... you can imagine that when I received my shipping notification, I tracked that package every single day until I arrived on my doorstep. It only took a few days. Very quick! Ships from USA.

I think the packaging is cool because they glasses are packaged individually and then just (securely) taped together to form a box. Genius!

Two individual boxes!

When I get products like this, it is so hard for me not to rip into them immediately, but instead take the time to photograph each step. I was way too excited!!!

Both pairs of glasses came with their own glasses case to protect the glasses during transport. The case is pretty basic. It's not much to look at but it gets the job done. I find it a little tricky to open sometimes but... hey, it's free.

Inside the case, the glasses came wrapped up nicely in a cleaning cloth. This kept them very clean. OuO

I freaking LOVE these glasses. I chose the Katherine Purple Blue Stripe glasses because I knew they would go with most of my kawaii outfits. Because they have purple and blue in the frames, they obviously go with all of my purple and blue outfits. On top of that, they go with most pink outfits as well. Basically, any time I'm wearing anything remotely cute (always), I am wearing these glasses.

I really like that these glasses are two-toned, but in almost a tortoise-shell kind of way. The "stripes" are hardly stripes at all, which I actually think is a good thing. If they were too stripy, they could easily distract from your outfit.

I love that the sides of the Katherine Purple Blue Stripe glasses are silver instead of black. Again, like I mentioned before, even the tiniest bit of black can throw off a pastel outfit. A lot of colored glasses have black sides, which can be cool, but is a total bummer when you are trying to find something within a light color family. The ends are capped with the same purple/blue coloring and are very comfortable to wear.

Time to see how they look!!!

omg... I am so happy. Happiest pastel princess evs. o^w^o

I know I am still wearing circle lenses here, but do you see how you can use glasses to enhance your kawaii outfits?? This is my solution for all you cute kids who can't wear contacts! Get cute colored frames!

I chose Sebastian in red as my second pair because I wanted to get a pair completely different from the first. Because the Katherine Purple Blue Stripe glasses covered all of my purple, blue, and pink outfits, I wanted something to wear with my red outfits. And pretty much, when I am not wearing pink, purple, or blue, I am usually wearing red.

I only have one suuuuper minor complaint about these glasses so I am just going to get it out of the way first. I'm not sure why, but I was expecting them to be a brighter red color instead of more of a burgundy/darker red. However, the fact that they aren't as bright just makes them easier to wear with regular clothes because they are very subtle, so I don't really think it's a bad thing either.

I do love the deep red. :)

They have a cute little logo(?) or marking on the outer corners of the rim. They look like little bedazzles to me :)

It looks like a snowflake!!!

The color of the sides is consistent with the front of the frames which is a major plus to me. I don't understand why more colored glasses don't do that?? Does anyone know?

There is also a black grip to hold the frames by and a little padding on the end to maximize comfort.

It kind of looks like a unicorn hoof... XD

Enough details... Time to put them on!! I debuted these glasses the other day in my Batman Black Milk Daily Style Post. I love the way the wayfarer shaped frames go with the red suspenders for a cute comic book/bookworm look.